The industry is expected to spend millions more this year as those issues heat up again in Washington.

The $25 million the gaming industry spent on
lobbying in 2006 was a slight increase over the previous year’s total,
but down from the $28.5 million spent four years ago. Overall,
companies, associations and other groups spent $2.5 billion on lobbying
in Washington last year, with the pharmaceutical industry topping the
charts at $166.5 million.

The spending came amid controversy over public
corruption scandals involving convicted former lobbyist Jack Abramoff,
who admitted to bilking wealthy American Indian gaming tribes.

“Even though we didn’t have anything to do with
it, we all tend to get labeled,” said Frank Fahrenkopf Jr., president
of the American Gaming Association, which spent $900,000 last year
lobbying on behalf of commercial casinos.

Still, the gambling industry fared pretty well
in Washington, he said. And he expects casinos will do even better this
year because of a new cast of leaders in Congress who understand the
industry.

They include Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid,
a Nevada Democrat who has been a strong casino advocate; Rep. Charles
Rangel, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee; and
Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., the House Judiciary Committee chairman.

The industry also has Republican allies in
powerful posts, including Sen. John Ensign, a Nevada Republican, who
now heads the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Much of the gambling industry’s 2006 lobbying
centered on legislation to ban online betting. The measure became law
after former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., inserted it
into an unrelated bill passed late last year.

Internet gaming supporters want lawmakers to reverse the ban before some of the regulations go into effect this summer.

The Poker Players Alliance, which lobbied
heavily against the ban recently hired former New York senator and
poker enthusiast Alfonse D’Amato to lead the group’s effort this year.
D’Amato’s message to former colleagues: the U.S. government could
generate $3 billion in taxes a year if it regulated the industry.

“There are millions of Americans who love poker
and who feel strongly their rights were taken away in the last
session,” said Michael Bolcerek, president of the Poker Players
Alliance, which paid another lobbying firm $540,000 last year to work
against the bill. “It’s an overreach of the federal government that
needs to be rectified.”

The alliance already has some support in
Congress for repealing the ban. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of
the House Financial Services Committee, told The Financial Times last week that the Internet gambling ban was one of the “stupidest” bills ever passed.

Meanwhile, two Nevada lawmakers, Reps. Shelley
Berkley, a Democrat, and Jon Porter, a Republican, are drafting a
proposal to study ways to regulate online gambling.

Gaming experts question whether the issue will gain any traction.

“It’s a subject the public cares somewhat
about,” said Robin Hanson, an economics professor at George Mason
University who studies the gambling industry. “But they’re not
overwhelmingly passionate about it.”

Hanson says it’s usually more difficult for
Congress to repeal anti-gambling measures than to pass them because
it’s the kind of issue most politicians don’t want to promote.

“Usually, the way gambling grows is by neglect,” he said.

Although efforts to ban off-reservation gaming
died in Congress, the Interior Department is considering regulations
that could restrict development of new Indian casinos on
off-reservation sites.

Dozens of tribes who want to build casinos — in
some cases hundreds of miles from their reservations — are lobbying
against the rules. But many wealthy gaming tribes support new
regulations, saying the practice has led to “reservation shopping.”

Tribal governments are also monitoring the
actions of the National Indian Gaming Commission, which wants to make
bingo machines used in certain Indian casinos work slower so they won’t
resemble Las Vegas-style slot machines.

Despite the high-stakes measures affecting
Indian casinos that Congress considered last year, the $16 million
tribes spent on lobbying was about 25% less than they spent in 2003,
according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Experts attribute the
drop-off to the Abramoff scandal.

“Since the Abramoff scandal, they have taken
more care in selecting lobbyists to represent them,” said Roger Gros,
editor of the magazine Global Gaming Business. “They’re much more selective on where they spend their money.”

Click here for the PocketFives Podcast Interview with Alfonse D’Amato

In its quest to bring about justice for the online poker world, which
was wronged upon the last minute passage of the Unlawful Internet
Gambling Enforcement Act, the Poker Players Alliance has acquired the
ultimate ace in the hole: A Washington insider and three-time
Republican Senator from New York, Alfonse D’Amato. Recently named
Chairman of the Board of the PPA, D’Amato brings an experienced,
hard-nosed edge to the organization, helping the major online poker
proponent in its mission to call for regulation, rather than
prohibition, of online poker. The former Senator will appear on the
PocketFives.com Podcast on Thursday, March 29, 2007 to discuss his
motivation for becoming involved with the PPA.

D’Amato summarizes his view of the UIGEA, which was attached to the
Safe Port Act, last October: “As individuals, we like to make our own
choices. One of the great things about being a U.S. citizen and living
in this great democracy is that we have the right to make our own
choices, particularly in our own homes. Why should wagering on poker be
forbidden when it certainly involves the same skill level as betting on
the lottery or picking a horse [both of which have carve outs under the
Wire Act?] Why should Congress deprive people of the opportunity to
participate in a game they enjoy using modern technology? It’s
outrageous that the U.S. Congress is making its moral judgment on a
game that does not threaten anyone.”

Regulation of the industry is a key component of the PPA’s stance:
“There is a far better way to deal with some of the concerns
legislators have regarding gambling and that is to regulate online
poker. What we’ve done is force legitimate operators out of business
and deprived people of the opportunity to see that online poker is a
fair game by regulating it. It’s also going to cost taxpayers a
tremendous amount of revenue to curtail this.”

As the main lobbying organization for online poker, the PPA has
reiterated its desire to reach one million members and become a true
lobbying force. D’Amato explains: “If people care about their rights,
they have to band together. That’s what we’re attempting to do. We’ve
set a goal to grow the membership of the PPA to one million people.
We’re trying to form and galvanize an activist community that lets our
members of Congress know that we think there is a better way to deal
with some of the problems they are concerned with.” After all, it will
be difficult for Congress to ignore the voices of one million of its
constituents.

The PPA’s focus has been to enact a carve out for online poker: “To
bring about a total revocation of the UIGEA will be much more difficult
than getting a carve out. I believe that, as we approach various
members of Congress, we’ll be able to make a case and have online poker
available to people without it being stigmatized as being unlawful.”
Moreover, “It’s a game that brings excitement and entertainment and
there’s a skill level to it. Substantial revenues can be raised without
even having to tax it. Don’t make this illegal, driving people
underground and offshore in order to escape regulation. It could
generate $3 billion easily that could be used for great causes.”

Perhaps the most important lesson that can be learned by those wanting
to make a difference in the world of online poker is to let their
voices be heard: “Write to your Congressmen and tell them that you’re a
registered voter, that you’ve joined the PPA, and then ask why Congress
would ban your right to participate in a game that many of their
colleagues participate in. One of the things we want to do is grow this
organization and then get members to contact their representatives to
say that we don’t think it’s fair that our rights have been taken away.”

Membership to the PPA is completely free (unless, of course, you’d like
to make a donation, in which case various membership levels are
available). Just visit www.pokerplayersalliance.org to get involved.
“This is the time to join and have your voice be heard. Show them that
the little guy, each one of us, if we join together, can be a powerful
force. Let’s use the Internet to communicate with our members of
Congress as voters and as American citizens to say that we feel they’ve
gone too far in this attempt to ban us from a sport that we have a
right to participate in.”

The PocketFives.com Podcast featuring Alfonse D’Amato will be released
on Thursday, March 29, 2007. Thank you to the Poker Players Alliance
for coordinating this interview and to D’Amato for taking time out of
his extremely hectic schedule to reach out to the PocketFives.com
community.

Former Senator Alfonse D’Amato is passionate about poker. Whether he’s talking about regulating Internet poker in the United States or telling a story about hitting his first royal flush, the excitement is his voice is palpable.

The Poker Players Alliance is betting that D’Amato’s engaging personality and political connections will help the organization spread its message on Capitol Hill. D’Amato was named the Chairman of the PPA two weeks ago.

There’s no doubt that the guy has flair. He calls Howard Stern a friend, and when asked to name four people he’d like to play poker with, he lists Stern, Donald Trump, Rosie O’Donnell (to “make the game really interesting”), and Ray Romano (to “provide comic relief”). He’s even played poker while he was stuck in an elevator in New York City.

The PPA’s membership has surged by nearly 40 percent to 220,000 since D’Amato signed on as Chairman. But D’Amato, who represented New York for three terms in the Senate, isn’t satisfied.

“Our goal is to (reach one million members) sooner rather than later and grow it as quickly as possible,” D’Amato said. “We think we can do it in the next two or three months.”

D’Amato’s role will be to lobby on behalf of the PPA in his former colleagues’ offices on the Capitol. It’s a role he’s held for Park Strategies, a public policy and business development firm he founded in 1999.

“You don’t win these battles simply because someone says ‘He’s a former colleague, let go support his client or point of view,’” D’Amato said. “You do it by having an opportunity that may be difficult for others to sit down with the staffers on the Hill on both sides.”

D’Amato is clear that he’s planning on talking to anyone who will listen, from those who railed against the UIGEA like Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), to those who were instrumental in its formation, like Sen. John Kyl (R-Ariz.).

“It will be our job to visit key members of the Congress, people like John Kyl, and to tell them, ‘Look, we think you can achieve your goals and do it in a better, more effective way.’”

D’Amato, former Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and a onetime member Senate Finance Committee, believes that he can convince even the most ardent fans of the UIGEA that the unintended consequences of the legislation leave the government in worse shape to deal with the problems the legislation’s supporters are hoping to prevent.

“If they want to curb underage gambling, you’re certainly not going to curb it with this kind of thing,” D’Amato said. “You will simply drive people to offshore facilities that may not have, or who won’t be inclined to have the kind of regulatory controls that will see to it that there’s an honest game that can be put in place to prevent underage gambling and deal with problem gamblers.”

With the UIGEA already on the books, it will be an uphill battle, but at least now the PPA has someone on its side who knows how to win at the poker table and in politics.

Prominent Las Vegas-based gaming attorney Anthony Cabot has voiced strong support that the Poker Players Alliance (the “PPA”) is the one broad grass roots organization that will best represent U.S. online poker players’ interests with regard to Federal legislation. He also noted that PPA dues go directly to fight the fight.

On their website at www.pokerplayersalliance.org, the PPA states it aims to overturn, or at least get online poker exempted from, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) that Congress passed last October in an attempt to block online gambling by making it illegal for financial institutions to handle transactions between online gambling sites and US residents.

Cabot posted a memorandum in the forum of major poker information portal 2+2 this week. In it he urges players to join the PPA so their voices will be heard in government.

“If poker players want to regain their rights, they need to ban and act together,” stressed Cabot. “Congress will not act to protect your rights unless they think by not doing so it may impact their ability to get reelected.”

“I know of no other organization other than the PPA that has the capability of uniting the poker world in this cause,” he continued.

The PPA has a goal of having a million members; a number it thinks will make politicians take note of the voting power the PPA represents.

“..the PPA needs a million members to begin to have such an impact,” Cabot surmised.

A large part of Cabot’s post highlights the impact PPA already has had.

“Several reporters, including David Broder of the Washington Post, who is considered the Dean of the Washington Press Corps, gave partial credit to the PPA for the defeat of Rep. Jim Leach (R-IA) in last November’s elections,” he noted.

Cabot points out that since 2005, the PPA has retained the highly effective lobbyist group the Federalist Group, a subsidiary of Ogilvy Public Relations, to represent the organization in Washington. The Federalist Group was rated by National Journal as one the Top 10 lobbying firms in Washington. It’s the same lobbyist group that represents the influential National Rifle Association (NRA).

“In retaining The Federalists and in its other work in Washington,” says Cabot, “the PPA has expended substantial time, effort and financial resources in protecting the legality of the American game of poker.”

Another effort of the PPA, Cabot noted, has been to educate Congress that poker is a game of considerable skill and to make the case that online poker should not be banned. The PPA sponsored the visit of WSOP Champions Howard Lederer, Greg Raymer, and Chris Ferguson to Washington to meet with various legislators, journalists and bloggers to make that case, figuring it would have most impact coming from some of the most skilled players in the world.

On their website, PPA president Michael Bolcerek credits Linda Johnson as being the inspiration behind the PPA. Cabot was the one who then set up the organization. So Cabot has been familiar with the PPA from its beginnings, when Linda Johnson served as its first Chairwoman.

Cabot also highlights the excellent PPA Board of Directors that includes poker enthusiasts: Linda Johnson, Jan Fischer, Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer, Greg Raymer and Greg Dinkin. The most recent addition is the new chairman of the Board and another poker enthusiast, three term U.S. Senator from New York, Alphonse D’Amato.

Poker Player Alliance Cabot ended his post by remarking, “I think the PPA deserves the support of the poker world.”

Visit the PPA website for information and to join, at www.pokerplayersalliance.org. There you can learn about the poker laws in your state. You will also find the resources and tools to directly contact your federal, state, and local elected representatives so that you can help deliver positive messages about the game and why it should be protected.

Barney Frank, the Democratic chairman of the powerful House financial services committee, is working on legislation to repeal the sweeping ban that was passed in Congress last year against online gaming, he told the Financial Times in an interview.

Mr Frank called the ban, formally known as the Unlawful Enforcement Gambling Act, one of the “stupidest laws” ever passed and said he wanted to “repeal” the law.

“I am working on legislation to cut back on this internet gambling thing. I think it’s preposterous,” he said, adding that he was considering some “innovative ideas”.

“I’m looking for ways, maybe we can make some money off of it,” he said, signalling that he could be considering a proposal that would make online gaming legal by both regulating – and taxing – the industry.

Mr Frank declined to comment further on his proposal. A spokesman for the lawmaker said he had not yet drafted any legislation and was still at a “thinking stage”.

“I am not ready to get into specifics yet. People have come to me with some ideas. Not Al D’Amato. ..and I’m looking at it,” Mr Frank told the FT at an event at the US Chamber of Commerce.

Mr D’Amato, the former New York senator, was recently named chairman of the Poker Players Alliance, a lobby group that is fighting to legalise online poker.

Hopes that the US ban might be overturned helped lift shares in UK-listed online gaming groups on Wednesday, with PartyGaming up nearly 10 per cent in a falling London market. Shares in 888 Holdings and Sportingbet were also higher.

The Democratic victory in the Congress last year was an important victory for pro-gaming interests because Mr Frank, along with John Conyers, chairman of the House judiciary committee, are both considered sympathetic to the industry.

They are understood to believe that the legislation passed last year went too far by putting restrictions on a hobby – gambling – that millions of Americans enjoy.

However, while both Mr Frank and Mr Conyers represent powerful potential allies in the fight to roll back last year’s ban, which hit non-US gaming interests, particularly in the UK, it is far from clear that the lawmakers would have enough support to pass any meaningful legislation.

One industry lobbyist yesterday expressed deep reservations about the possibility that the ban would be repealed.

“Though the Democrats are in charge it is not clear that the votes would be there for a regulatory bill. Having Mr Frank and [John] Conyers [chairing congressional committees] is a positive development, but it doesn’t make it a slam dunk,” this person said.

Mr D’Amato said in a recent interview with the FT that he believed Congress should create a regulatory structure to police the industry that would be funded by licensing fees.

Separately, the industry is keeping a close eye on the US Treasury, which is currently drafting the regulations that will, in effect, implement last year’s ban. One lobbyist said that Treasury’s deadline to present the rules for public comment period had slipped and is not now expected until April or May.

[Financial Times]

This Is a Sneak Peak at Card Player’s Next Cover Story

The following is roughly the first half of a cover story by Allyn Jaffrey Shulman, Card Player’s legal expert, with the newest member of the Poker Players Alliance, former New York Senator Al D’Amato. The entire interview will appear in the next issue of Card Player Magazine, which is due out later this month. Shulman sits on PPA’s board and was granted the first official interview with D’Amato after he took the position.

Please click here to view Shulman’s article on D’Amato that ran on the site Monday.

Allyn Jaffrey Shulman: Welcome to the PPA. We’re very excited to have you sit as chairman of the PPA board. Congratulations on your unanimous appointment. Senator, when did you first hear about the PPA?

Alfonse D’Amato: In October. I heard about the PPA from Wayne Berman, a friend of mine who was my partner at one time, and who was also in our regular Thursday night game, every other week. He mentioned to me that the PPA existed.

I thought that the legislation being proposed was using a cannon to kill a gnat. What really needs to happen is to have a legitimate house, a fair game, and a fair operator, and not take away from 20-plus-million citizens who play poker the opportunity to play poker on the Internet. Why should they be deprived of Internet play and …(Interruption: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is on the phone …)

AJS: I understand that you have two different roles in the PPA. Besides being chairman of the board, what is your other role?

AD: Well, after serving in Congress for 18 years, in 1999, I began Park Strategies LLC. My role in the PPA includes myself and my firm. We will be lobbying to reform the UIGEA. Although the Act was well-intentioned, it will fail to achieve its goals. We all want to protect kids; we don’t want money laundering, and we don’t want our citizens cheated. But, we don’t want to waste our resources, either

…read more

For Immediate Release

Contact:         John Pappas
                        202.715.1514

                        Michael Bolcerek
                        email@pokerplayersalliance.org
Read the rest of this entry »

excerpt:
“For years, Alfonse M. D’Amato, the former Republican senator from New York, was the host at a Thursday evening poker game at his Capitol Hill office, playing with other lawmakers, staff members and lobbyists late into the night over pots that ranged from a few dollars to a few hundred.

Once New Yorkers collectively informed Mr. D’Amato that it was time to find a new line of work, he graduated to a higher-stakes game, playing with Howard Stern, among others. He is now a stalwart of a weekly game on Long Island where a bad night might mean that a player drops $5,000 or more.

As Mr. D’Amato tells it, and as his card-playing cronies confirm, he rarely leaves a game a loser. Yet it is a safe bet that his love of poker never proved so lucrative as it did last week, when he signed a lobbying deal with the Poker Players Alliance, a nascent group that hopes that Mr. D’Amato will help them become players in Washington politics, too…”

read more….

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http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/ppa-promotion.php

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to get poker the express exemption it rightfully deserves from the
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Read the rest of this entry »